Rebuilding Continues for Persecuted Christians in Iraq

Among those Samaritan's Purse has helped is a woman whose kidnapped husband remains in ISIS captivity.

Northern Iraq Projects

013929

$

Donate

Anka lost her home and her husband at the same time four years ago. When ISIS invaded the Christian town of Qaraqosh, Iraq, in Aug. 2014, she chose to flee. Her husband Behnam stayed—at first—then tried to rejoin her days later but wound up being captured.

Over the past few years, Anka has known little but suffering as she was displaced and anxious for news of her husband. Her hometown was destroyed; all that was left were ruins. Recently some light has returned as she was able to move back home to Qaraqosh, thanks to Samaritan’s Purse. Our Nehemiah Project has rebuilt over 770 homes for persecuted Christians on the Nineveh Plains over the past year.

Thankful to Be Home

Even though ISIS left her hometown a wreck, Anka longed to return. Because her house was under construction when the terrorists came, her best option was actually to return to her sister’s residence. The sister extended Anka and her family an invitation to live there in the historic Iraqi city.

Anka agreed but the house needed repairs—work she couldn’t do herself. However, she soon was overjoyed to learn that Samaritan’s Purse would help her restore the home.

Anna (center) and the Samaritan’s Purse staff talk and pray together in her newly restored home.

“Thank God, thank God a thousand times because I was really baffled how I would be able to repair the home,” Anka said. “I don’t have any kind of income and we don’t have money for rehabilitation.”

Samaritan’s Purse repaired doors, windows, ceilings, and the gate. We also added a fresh coat of paint.

“Thank God for sending Samaritan’s Purse to help us.”

“Thank God for sending Samaritan’s Purse to help us,” Anka said.

Now her restored home is one of hundreds that stand in defiance to the rubble around it.

Separated by ISIS

While Anka’s return home offers much comfort, the memories of 2014 still haunt her.

As ISIS approached their city, Behnam asked her, “Why do you have no courage and want to leave?”

Anka (second from right) enjoys time with some of her extended family members, who also live with her.

“I’m not a coward,” Anka said, “but everyone is leaving.”

“I’m staying here,” he replied.

That was the last time she saw him.

“He really loved Qaraqosh and didn’t want to leave it,” Anka said. “He was very faithful to God, and he loved everyone. He didn’t treat anyone with any kind of difference. He treated all the same.”

Anka left Qaraqosh for safety at 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2014, hoping to be reunited eventually with Behnam. Three days later she received a phone call from him, and he said he was coming to meet her. He never made it. ISIS captured him.

‘I Have God’

“It’s too hard to even cry,” Anka said. She said she doesn’t have any tears left.

“[But] every time I lose hope, God sends me something like news about my husband.”

Occasionally that is encouraging news—like the phone call she received this April telling her that Behnam was alive in an ISIS prison.

The Samaritan’s Purse team encourages Anka (center) during their visits.

Speaking of that call, Anka said, “I was happy, but I’m not happy at the same time. Unless I see him and talk to him, I cannot feel relieved.”

Other times, the word is disturbing. During her wait for news of Behnam, someone sent her a photo of a dead man that looked like him. Early the next morning, she and her sons took a taxi from Erbil to Qaraqosh to investigate.

“I went down and searched among the bodies,” Anka said. After turning over eight corpses, she discovered that none were her beloved husband.

Many wonder how Anka is able to bear such pain and uncertainty. “People ask me ‘How do you have the patience to live with all you’ve been through?’

Though the situation has improved over the past year, there are still many wounds—and situations—that need healing. Please pray for strength for Anka and for Behnam to be released soon.

SUPPORT

Northern Iraq ProjectsAs ISIS has now been driven from the area, Christian families in the Plains of Nineveh are eager to return to their homes and churches. But, they need our help to repair damage, replace doors, windows, and fixtures, and paint over ISIS graffiti as they reclaim their towns in the Name of Jesus. Thanks to the gifts and prayers of people like you, Samaritan’s Purse is helping Christian families move back home so that this region will once again be a light for the Gospel in the heart of the Middle East.
Through a variety of additional projects in other parts of Iraq, we also continue to help meet the long-term physical and spiritual needs of impoverished families whose lives have been disrupted by violence over the past several years.

Samaritan's Purse stands ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. We specialize in meeting critical needs for victims of conflict, disaster, famine, and epidemics throughout the world, often working through ministry partners on the ground. We provide food, water, shelter, medicine, and other assistance in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Samaritan’s Purse is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. All contributions designated for specific projects shall be applied
to those projects, and we may assess up to 10 percent to be used for administering the gift. Occasionally,
we receive more contributions for a given project than can be wisely applied to that project. When that happens,
we use these funds to meet a similar pressing need.

STAY INFORMED ABOUT OUR WORK

Sign up to receive email updates on the work of Samaritan’s Purse, prayer alerts, and volunteer opportunities.